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The federal Centers for Disease Control’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System website, which includes a range of data sets and tools long used to map public health trends, includes this note: 

“CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders.” 

What exactly has been modified? The website doesn’t specify. Methodology and data glossaries are no longer readily available. 

The CDC isn’t the only federal agency during President Donald Trump’s second term to alter public information online. A litany of federal websites vanished following Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration only to reappear later with little to no information about any changes made. Some websites, like the Department of Justice’s database of defendants charged in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, are gone altogether. 

For a data journalist, this removal and possible manipulation of federal data are concerning and frustrating because it limits the information we can use to make sense of our world. 

What exactly is data journalism? The term might confuse some people. To me it means using numbers to investigate inequity and injustice and find patterns and anomalies in an otherwise anecdotal world. 

Credible and accessible federal, state and local data make such investigations possible, allowing us to identify solutions to challenges that affect Wisconsin communities. Journalists are hardly the only people to rely on such data. Federal data sets are used by researchers, public officials and students across the world to understand our communities. 

Certain changes to government websites under a new president are relatively common, as illustrated by the End of Term web archive. The archive has, since 2008, preserved information from government websites at the end of presidential terms — collecting terabytes of information. The difference this time? The Trump administration has sought to tear apart full data sets to remove information it doesn’t like, particularly data related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. 

A stark example is the Youth Risk Behavior Survey — a nationally representative study that “measures health-related behaviors and experiences that can lead to death and disability among youth and adults.” The survey produced volumes of data, which could help communities understand how race, mental health, gender identity and sexual orientation shape health-related behaviors. The data was temporarily taken offline until a court order required the Department of Health and Human Services  to restore the website. 

A note on the website now says, in part: “This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it.” 

Still, like with other restored websites, we don’t know whether information has been scrubbed or changed to conform with the Trump administration’s worldview. We don’t know whether other data or information will change without notice. 

Thankfully, journalists and coding experts are archiving all the data they can get their hands on. Big Local News, Library Innovation Lab, Internet Archive and Data Rescue Project are among organizations making sure the public has access to such information, as is our right.

But these archivists can save only what is already available. They can’t tell us what is being removed or manipulated before data reaches the public. They can’t tell us what information is being kept secret. Americans have long disagreed on politics, and that’s OK. Partisan debate is healthy and necessary in a democracy. But partisanship is now sowing mistrust in the data we rely on to tell the American story. 

And right now? We need concrete facts more than ever.

Disappearing, altered federal websites are a problem for everyone is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

There’s no getting around the fact that transporting students is an expensive enterprise. Add to that the extra measures needed for serving students with disabilities, and costs grow substantially higher than for other routine operations.

For school some districts, at least a portion of that extra expense is being offset with funds from the federal government. Through provisions in the legislation authorizing Medicaid funding, school systems may file for reimbursement for transportation to and from specified eligible services that students with disabilities need during the school day. These services can include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology or therapy services, psychological counseling, and nursing services.

Of course, that’s based on acceptable submission of the required reports, which in turn rests on providing accurate ridership figures. Currently, reporting practices vary among school districts across the country, from relying on paper-based approaches to capitalizing on advanced features offered by routing software and related student ridership verification.

Teena Mitchell, special needs transportation coordinator for Greenville County Schools in Greenville, South Carolina, noted that considering the extra costs involved in serving special needs riders, seeking reimbursement is well worth the effort.

“I think it’s safe to say the cost of transporting students with disabilities is substantially higher than transporting those without them and plays a major role in the overall cost of educating our students with disabilities,” said Mitchell, who is also president of the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

Even if reimbursements go back into a school district’s general fund rather than the transportation department’s budget, she added, the dollars benefit the entire district and can be tracked back to the benefit of the transportation department in supporting areas such as personnel, training and equipment needs.

Of the 78,000 students Greenville County serves daily, nearly 16 percent are students with disabilities. The vat vast majority of those students, 88 percent according to Mitchell, receive the same transportation as non-disabled students and ride general education buses. The remaining 12 percent receive specialized transportation and are served on 111 specialized school buses.

Payment is based on a standard amount per trip. For the 2023-2024 school year, the amount was $13.35 per trip although the rate as of Oct. 1 has increased to $29.06. At the standard of $13.35 per trip, a typical school district of Greenville’s size could have expected to receive about $221,000 this school year, Mitchell calculated.

To file for reimbursement, school bus drivers are given a form that lists qualified students listed for the route in question and the dates transported. When two weeks of information has been recorded, a clerk who manages the program enters the information into the Medicaid system for payment.

The school district has routing software but as of this report wasn’t using for tracking Medicaid reimbursements. However, transportation staff were evaluating options for moving in that direction.

This step has already been taken at Colorado’s Weld County School District 6, said Chad Hawley, director of transportation. Routing software is now being used to track ridership in the district’s 60 routes, including 26 designated for serving students who require specialized transportation.

Software features include custom reporting functionality to capture and document data such as days qualifying students rode, where and what time they were picked up and dropped off, and which personnel were involved. A student information specialist incorporates the relevant details in a report that is shared with the Medicaid specialist in the district’s finance department.

Along with improved accuracy, the workload involved in reporting has been reduced.

“We used to have someone collect daily student counts from all of our specialized routes, input the data into a spreadsheet, and then send all the spreadsheets to the finance department,” Hawley noted. “The previous way was time consuming and not always accurate.”

Plans for a similar approach are in the works at El Dorado Union High School District in Placerville, California, where drivers log attendance and submit monthly reports for transportation provided to an average of 130 students who meet Medicaid requirements.

“When drivers turn in reports, they go first to our dispatchers, who enter the data into a shared spreadsheet,” said Sarah Lemke, director of transportation. “This spreadsheet is then accessible to both the finance team and the student success team, which also tracks our McKinney-Vento [Homeless Assistance Act] students.”

This collective info feeds into a report for both state and federal reimbursements.

Transportation staff currently use routing software to support route planning. “While it doesn’t track attendance directly, this capability is expected once we fully implement the software,” Lemke said, adding the goal is to have it fully operational to support Medicaid tracking this school year. “We’re working to streamline this process into one centralized system. The shared Google sheet we currently use has been very effective for transparency across departments, so we’re optimistic that routing will further enhance that.”

Services provided by an outside firm are central to Medicaid reporting at Hutto Independent School District, where the number of special needs riders has been growing. Currently, the school district located northeast of Austin, Texas transports 242 special needs students out of 4,568 total riders, an increase of 14 percent from last year. This necessitates running 15 routes for students with individualized education programs and 35 general routes with some specialty shuttles and McKinney-Vento routes as well, noted David Uecker, director of transportation.

“A contractor does the filing for us,” Uecker says. “We submit rider counts to the company with our [special education] department handling the reporting.”

Hutto leaders plan to enhance reporting with the implementation of new software. Slated for full adoption in the spring, that move will support tracking of riders with disabilities.

Some school districts have elected not to pursue Medicaid reimbursements, at least for now. That’s the case at Deer Creek School District in Edmond, Oklahoma. The district currently utilizes eight routes to transport 100 students with IEPs each school day but meets those demands without additional federal funding.

“The time it takes to go through the reimbursement process makes it difficult to pursue and maintain districtwide,” said Robert Feinberg, transportation director, echoing a common sentiment of peers nationwide.

At the same time, that decision is subject to review. “There is always a possibility of us beginning to use the program,” Feinberg noted. “Our district will continue to evaluate the process versus the manpower it would take to submit the claims.” He said one scenario that might prompt Deer Creek to begin seeking Medicaid funding would be if the school district experienced a large influx of students who meet reimbursement requirements.

Making It Work
Dealing with the federal government is never simple, and the Medicaid reimbursement process is no exception.

Given the complexity involved, good organization is a must. “Prioritize organization from the beginning,” Lemke said. “And establish a reliable system for collecting needed information in advance.”

The same goes for maintaining the necessary knowledge base. “Special needs transportation is definitely a challenge for many districts,” Feinberg said. “Knowing the local, state and federal laws pertaining to their transportation is vital.”

Targeted training can be a key to effective practice in this area, Mitchell pointed out.
“Training your drivers and attendants to be accurate and consistent can be a challenge, especially if you’re in a larger district,” said Mitchell.

Greenville addresses this need during new-hire training, with all incoming transportation employees receiving at least four days of training in transporting students with disabilities. That includes the Medicaid tracking and reporting process in addition to driver training instruction.

“During this training, we impress on the employees the importance of accuracy and remind them that their signature is their assurance that the form is accurate,” Mitchell added.

“Occasionally there may be updates to the process, and when this happens as it did recently, we schedule an in-service training and also give hand-outs with specific instructions.”

Even with the best training, mistakes can occur. To ensure accuracy, Mitchell said she has found it beneficial to have a staff member oversee the process and review the information generated.

Katrina Morris, who directs transportation at both West Shore Educational School District and Mason County Eastern School District in Michigan, advises those in transportation who have not yet pursued this type of funding to consider going for it.

A lot of districts do not realize that there is money for Medicaid reimbursement for students with special needs who require services,” said Morris, who is also the executive director for the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation. “Please work with your special ed departments to see if this is an option to help receive the funding you are entitled to.”

Mitchell offered similar advice. “If your program is set up and maintained properly, it can run rather smoothly and bring much-needed funding back into the district to offset our diminishing budgets,” she concluded. “These funds can aid you in providing safe transportation with qualified staff.”

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the January 2025 issue of School Transportation News.

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Related: 5 Questions to Ask Before Implementing New Software
Related: TSD Conference Panel Discusses Routing for Students with Special Needs
Related: Bus Surveillance Software Solution is Game-Changer for Florida District
Related: Managing Transportation Data and Keeping It Safe

The post School Districts Use Data, Routing For Medicaid Reimbursements appeared first on School Transportation News.

How much control do you want over your fleet? The low price for a GPS-only, untethered fleet tracking solution may look shiny. But limited technologies pass their limitations on to you. Know what you’re getting (or missing).

Find out more about tracking your fleet with a tethered solution that features an OEM-grade TCU versus using a more limited, untethered option that isn’t designed for deeper, fleetwide visibility.

Download this complimentary white paper to learn about the differences between tethered and untethered fleet tracking solutions. And what they offer.

• Find out which offers upfront savings and which offers greater, longer-term savings across more of your operation.
• Compare their differences side by side, including reliability, accuracy, data types and technical designs.
• Understand the types of vehicle data each option pulls and doesn’t pull, and how they impact your level of visibility.
• Learn more about reducing costs, enhancing compliance and maintaining greater vehicle health with data pulled directly from the vehicle.
• Find out why OEMs trust premium, tethered telematics solutions that feature a TCU over untethered fleet tracking solutions that don’t.

Fill out the form below and then check your email for the white paper download link.

The post (Free White Paper) GPS-only vs. TCU Telematics: The Difference Runs Fleet Deep appeared first on School Transportation News.

Find the latest vehicle production data and budget reports, industry trends, and contact information for state, national and federal agencies, manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers.

Read the full 2025 Buyer’s Guide.

Data & Statistics
School Bus OEM Production Data
Industry Purchasing Trends
2025 School Bus Engine, Electric Drivetrain & Transmission Specifications

Organizations and Associations
State and Province Directory
National Associations
Federal Agencies

Bus OEM’s and Dealers

Components and Service Suppliers

Companies by Category
Company Listings

Publisher’s Commentary

The post Buyer’s Guide 2025 appeared first on School Transportation News.

Ahead of President Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office and his promise to “drill, baby, drill,” school districts nationwide indicated they weren’t completely sold on electric school buses.

That is one conclusion that could be made after school bus manufacturers reported only 26 more electric school buses were manufactured despite year three of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s $5 billion Clean School Bus Program and a 145-percent increase in electric manufacturing the previous year.

It should be noted that school bus manufacturers have only so much current capacity at their factories for electric school buses despite recent new plants opening over the past year. However, one of those, Lion Electric’s plant in Joliet, Illinois, was closed at least temporarily at the end of 2024. At this report, it remained to be seen how long the struggling Canadian manufacturer would remain in business as it sought further extensions of credit lines as well as potential purchaser.

Previously, school bus OEMs have commented that they would each eventually need to achieve an annual output of at least 2,500 electric school buses, a figure widely considered to be necessary for for eventual market saturation. A bet made was that further EPA emissions regulations would phase out diesel.

But the political winds can change fast. While it remained to be seen what would happen to EPA’s Phase 3 GHG emissions regulations set to go into effect in 2027 under Trump, Daimler Truck North America in December announced a new $285 million capital investment into Detroit Diesel’s manufacturing campus in Michigan.

Diesel, indeed, continued to reign supreme as the fuel of choice, so shows the magazine’s annual survey of 10 school bus OEMs for the production cycle of Nov. 1, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024, accounting for 22,889 school bus units manufactured. Gasoline came in second at 10,404 units. But 7,947 of those were Type A school buses with chassis provided by Ford or GM. Another 434 units not counted to that total were MFSABs.

Overall, the OEMs reported that school bus production decreased by over 2 percent during the 2023-2024 cycle, compared to the 17-plus percent increase in school bus output reported for 2022-2023. The slight dip in total numbers came in at 37,624 units, 2,928 of which were electric school buses.

Already the market share leader in propane, Blue Bird minimally benefited last year by competitors IC Bus and Thomas Built Buses no longer having an option to offer school districts and bus companies. Still, propane increased by 144 units to 1,958. Cummins announced last year it would not bring a propane version of its fuel agnostic engine to market, though it will offer gasoline starting next year. The survey data does not reflect any mass migration from one manufacturer to another in search of a propane option or to its gasoline relative.

Meanwhile, there was a significant jump in Type A production, as output spiked by 25 percent year-over year to 8,538 vehicles. One reason school districts embraced Type A over the past year could be the ongoing trend of finding a work-around to a lack of CDL school bus drivers. It could also reflect an easing of previous cutaway chassis shortages.

Overall, Type Cs continued to be the most specified school bus at 26,098 units, but that represented an over 10 percent decrease from 2022-2023 numbers. Type D increased 3,004 units from the previous figure of 2,601.

Editor’s Note:  Reprinted from the School Transportation News 2025 Buyer’s Guide.

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Related: Update: Lion Electric Defaults on Credit Repayment, Says It is Avoiding Bankruptcy
Related: Electric School Bus Manufacturing Included in Nearly $2B Federal Energy Grant
Related: (STN Podcast E149) Don’t Discount Diesel: EV Nuances & School Bus Energy Choices

The post Electric School Bus Production Remains Flat, Mirrors Overall Data appeared first on School Transportation News.

The Corporate Transparency Act is back in play for small businesses including those in the student transportation industry. 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday granted a stay of a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in December that issued a temporary injunction on enforcing the law. In the hope of preventing criminals from hiding illegal acts through corporate anonymity, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021, sandwiched into a larger 1,482-page defense bill. The law initially took effect on Jan. 1, 2024, requiring companies to disclose stakeholder information to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, by Jan. 1, 2025.

In an order that called the law outright Orwellian, however, a federal judge in Texas on Dec. 3 granted an injunction blocking the Corporate Transparency Act from being enforced — a decision that U.S. attorneys quickly appealed to the 5th Circuit, putting the fate of the act in legal limbo.

On Dec. 23, the 5th Circuit granted the government’s motion to keep the law in place through the appeal, only to reverse on Dec. 26. On Jan. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay, through the completion of review before the 5th Circuit.

To make matters even more confusing for business owners, the high court reviewed the government’s request to lift the stay only in the Texas case, leaving in place a second Texas case, Smith v. U.S. Department of Treasury, in which a stay remains, making current reporting voluntary.

A third federal judge in Oregon denied a similar request for an injunction in September, which will be reviewed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for granting the request for a stay — Justice Ketanyi Brown Jackson was the only dissenting voice, noting she did not see a need for the nation’s highest court to intervene because the 5th Circult already expedited its consideration of the appeal by the federal government’s appeal, which already delayed enforcement of the law by nearly four years.

Parties often ask the U.S. Supreme court to review split decisions among appeals court, but since the high court holds arguments for less than 1 percent of the cases submitted, it is impossible to know whether it will step in.

Meanwhile, FinCEN issued an alert last week clarifying the current status of Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting. While the Supreme Court lifted the injunction in the Texas Top Cop Shop case, a separate injunction in the Smith case remains, temporarily blocking CTA enforcement, FinCEN continued. The government has yet to appeal the Smith ruling.

That means companies do not have an immediate filing requirement, but voluntary filing is available.

If CTA proceeds, small businesses would have to file the required benefit ownership report very quickly. Failure to report required information could result in $591 fines per day of violation as well as up to two years in jail and up to $10,000 in penalties.

“In a limbo like this the best practice is to be ready to file,” Megan Henderson, an attorney at the Longmont, Colorado firm Lyons and Gaddis, advised last month.

Specializing in real estate and business transactions, Henderson said she spent much of the past year advising clients on becoming compliant under the Corporate Transparency Act.

Most businesses that filed paperwork with their state to become incorporated are now required to disclose their beneficial owners with the federal government, but exemptions abound. One big carve out is for larger companies generating more than $5 million in gross receipts annually. The umbrella of “beneficial owners” might be broader than some people think and covering not just owners but indispensable managers as well.

FinCEN published a brief guide to help businesses navigate the requirements. While neither a lawyer nor an accountant is required to file the paperwork, the process can seem daunting, especially for mom and pop establishments with limited time and resources.

“It’s going to impact the contractors that service the school districts,” said Chris Wojciechowski, an accountant at the Bonadio Group in Rochester, New York.

Wojciechowski said the regulation is more burdensome to small businesses with fewer resources.

“There’s such a tight timeline regarding compliance,” he continued. “So how is our businesses going to deal with this? They’re going to have to be nimble and be on top of the transition if they turn the law back on.”

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Related: (STN Podcast E238) Time Will Tell: Shakeups in the School Bus Business World (+ Thomas Built Buses CEO Interview)
Related: IRS Publishes Final Rule on Direct Pay for Tax-exempt Government Agencies
Related: Business As Usual for Collins Bus Customers, Says Forest River

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Similar legislation to the Corporate Transparency Act have already been introduced at the state level. One of the first copycat laws comes from New York lawmakers, requiring companies to report ownership by Jan. 1, 2026.

“It’s tricky because every state has their own regulations. I’ve seen companies who operate in one state come to another state and get slapped pretty hard with fines because they did not dig deep into the state regulations for school buses in that state,” said Mark Szyperski, president of On Your Mark Transportation, a consultancy firm based in Nashville, Tennessee.

For Szyperski, who grew up on the seat of his father’s Greyhound bus between Bay City and Detroit, Michigan, transportation is a family business.

Upon entering a new state, Szyperski said he often arranges to speak with the state’s school bus administrator to go over the basics. To be ready for the court’s outcome on the Corporate Transparency Act, he set up a Google alert and included news of the injunction in his newsletter.

“People need to be aware that [the injunction] could be overturned and then you best be getting ready to put the information into the system,” he said.

Ryan Gray contributed to this report.

The post Update: Supreme Court Reinstates Corporate Transparency Act appeared first on School Transportation News.

Student transportation is entering a new era, when access to real-time data, enhanced visibility for stakeholders, and higher safety standards will become essential pillars of operations.

School districts need to balance these new priorities with unprecedented pressure to meet equity goals and maintain tighter budgets. All these factors are challenging school leaders to reimagine how they transport students in the coming years.

Here are five key predictions shaping the future of student transportation in 2025:

1. Parents and Districts Will Demand More Visibility

The rise of smartphones requires instant access to information in school and beyond. Parents, teachers, and administrators all want real-time tracking updates and videos to ensure accountability and safety on school transportation. This year, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported that at least 50 percent of states have enacted school bus stop-arm camera laws, which ensure cameras are present to document incidents, monitor behavior, and uphold safety standards for everyone.

This demand for visibility extends beyond school buses to alternative transportation. New technology, including in-car cameras, ensures that school districts receive recorded and stored footage that verifies safe rides, monitors drivers, and clarifies any issues. Plus, school districts can close service gaps, dispatch providers, and keep families updated. In today’s environment, an extra level of visibility for all stakeholders is expected and essential.

2. Data and Machine Learning Will Become a Cornerstone of Future Operations

In 2025, route planning, driver assignments, and real-time adjustments will all rely on advanced analytics. Districts that harness data and machine learning through smart tools will see improvements in operational efficiency, increasing attendance rates.

The larger efforts to professionalize school district administrative offices are leading to data-driven decision-making. Many school districts are even hiring transportation directors with backgrounds in logistics and engineering. As school transportation evolves, districts will rely on experts who can understand and interpret complex analytics to streamline operations and improve outcomes.

3. Districts Will Advance Safety Standards

Safety remains a top priority for school districts, and new state legislation continues to raise the bar. California’s SB88, for example, goes into effect in 2025 and strengthens requirements for student transportation providers. At the local level, many districts are also increasing training protocols for drivers and requiring the use of safe technology to protect students and mitigate liability risks.

Next year, school districts will seek out partners that proactively adopt new safety technology and comply with district, state, and federal regulations. When alternative school transportation providers uphold the highest safety standards, they put students first while building necessary trust with administrators and parents.

4. Rising Demand for Equity-Focused Transportation Solutions

In 2025, the number of students experiencing homelessness and eligible for transportation support under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act will continue to rise. A 2023 report on Student Homelessness in America by the National Center for Homeless Education identified more than 1.2 million students experiencing homelessness in the U.S. in the 2021-2022 school year — a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

Without reliable transportation, students experiencing homelessness are at higher risk of chronic absenteeism. In fact, the same study found that more than half of homeless students in the 2021-2022 school year were chronically absent, and the absenteeism rate for students experiencing homelessness is 22 percent higher than the rest of the student population. School district leaders will need to find more ways to drive students experiencing homelessness to school, turning to alternative transportation providers to scale up support.

5. Budget Constraints Will Drive the Need for Operational Efficiency

Superintendents are under enormous pressure to meet new challenges with smaller budgets, given the expiration of pandemic relief funding, including the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program. These stark changes mean that leaders must prioritize cost-efficiency while maintaining access for students who have special needs, are eligible for McKinney-Vento support, or live out of district or in remote areas without making large investments in new vehicles or new hires.

Moving forward, leaders will leverage tech-forward alternative transportation providers to understand and meet their transportation needs with a click. For example, if a district has a rising percentage of students eligible for McKinney-Vento support, they could choose to used small-capacity vehicles that can make last-minute adjustments based on the students’ locations. Flexing your capacity meets new demands while optimizing transportation costs for the short and long term.

Every school year, new challenges and higher expectations require that school district leaders innovate, evolving their approach for better outcomes. 2025 is no different. By integrating smart technology into their operations, they can drive up safety standards, increase capacity in real-time, and prioritize cost-effectiveness while meeting equity goals. Leaders will ensure they’re setting up their schools and students for success in the classroom, one ride at a time.

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Mitch Bowling is the CEO of alternative transportation company EverDriven, which transported about 30,000 unique students last school year in 33 states.

The post Driving Change: 5 Predictions Shaping the Future of Student Transportation in 2025 appeared first on School Transportation News.

Car design is an iterative and proprietary process. Carmakers can spend several years on the design phase for a car, tweaking 3D forms in simulations before building out the most promising designs for physical testing. The details and specs of these tests, including the aerodynamics of a given car design, are typically not made public. Significant advances in performance, such as in fuel efficiency or electric vehicle range, can therefore be slow and siloed from company to company.

MIT engineers say that the search for better car designs can speed up exponentially with the use of generative artificial intelligence tools that can plow through huge amounts of data in seconds and find connections to generate a novel design. While such AI tools exist, the data they would need to learn from have not been available, at least in any sort of accessible, centralized form.

But now, the engineers have made just such a dataset available to the public for the first time. Dubbed DrivAerNet++, the dataset encompasses more than 8,000 car designs, which the engineers generated based on the most common types of cars in the world today. Each design is represented in 3D form and includes information on the car’s aerodynamics — the way air would flow around a given design, based on simulations of fluid dynamics that the group carried out for each design.

Each of the dataset’s 8,000 designs is available in several representations, such as mesh, point cloud, or a simple list of the design’s parameters and dimensions. As such, the dataset can be used by different AI models that are tuned to process data in a particular modality.

DrivAerNet++ is the largest open-source dataset for car aerodynamics that has been developed to date. The engineers envision it being used as an extensive library of realistic car designs, with detailed aerodynamics data that can be used to quickly train any AI model. These models can then just as quickly generate novel designs that could potentially lead to more fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles with longer range, in a fraction of the time that it takes the automotive industry today.

“This dataset lays the foundation for the next generation of AI applications in engineering, promoting efficient design processes, cutting R&D costs, and driving advancements toward a more sustainable automotive future,” says Mohamed Elrefaie, a mechanical engineering graduate student at MIT.

Elrefaie and his colleagues will present a paper detailing the new dataset, and AI methods that could be applied to it, at the NeurIPS conference in December. His co-authors are Faez Ahmed, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, along with Angela Dai, associate professor of computer science at the Technical University of Munich, and Florin Marar of BETA CAE Systems.

Filling the data gap

Ahmed leads the Design Computation and Digital Engineering Lab (DeCoDE) at MIT, where his group explores ways in which AI and machine-learning tools can be used to enhance the design of complex engineering systems and products, including car technology.

“Often when designing a car, the forward process is so expensive that manufacturers can only tweak a car a little bit from one version to the next,” Ahmed says. “But if you have larger datasets where you know the performance of each design, now you can train machine-learning models to iterate fast so you are more likely to get a better design.”

And speed, particularly for advancing car technology, is particularly pressing now.

“This is the best time for accelerating car innovations, as automobiles are one of the largest polluters in the world, and the faster we can shave off that contribution, the more we can help the climate,” Elrefaie says.

In looking at the process of new car design, the researchers found that, while there are AI models that could crank through many car designs to generate optimal designs, the car data that is actually available is limited. Some researchers had previously assembled small datasets of simulated car designs, while car manufacturers rarely release the specs of the actual designs they explore, test, and ultimately manufacture.

The team sought to fill the data gap, particularly with respect to a car’s aerodynamics, which plays a key role in setting the range of an electric vehicle, and the fuel efficiency of an internal combustion engine. The challenge, they realized, was in assembling a dataset of thousands of car designs, each of which is physically accurate in their function and form, without the benefit of physically testing and measuring their performance.

To build a dataset of car designs with physically accurate representations of their aerodynamics, the researchers started with several baseline 3D models that were provided by Audi and BMW in 2014. These models represent three major categories of passenger cars: fastback (sedans with a sloped back end), notchback (sedans or coupes with a slight dip in their rear profile) and estateback (such as station wagons with more blunt, flat backs). The baseline models are thought to bridge the gap between simple designs and more complicated proprietary designs, and have been used by other groups as a starting point for exploring new car designs.

Library of cars

In their new study, the team applied a morphing operation to each of the baseline car models. This operation systematically made a slight change to each of 26 parameters in a given car design, such as its length, underbody features, windshield slope, and wheel tread, which it then labeled as a distinct car design, which was then added to the growing dataset. Meanwhile, the team ran an optimization algorithm to ensure that each new design was indeed distinct, and not a copy of an already-generated design. They then translated each 3D design into different modalities, such that a given design can be represented as a mesh, a point cloud, or a list of dimensions and specs.

The researchers also ran complex, computational fluid dynamics simulations to calculate how air would flow around each generated car design. In the end, this effort produced more than 8,000 distinct, physically accurate 3D car forms, encompassing the most common types of passenger cars on the road today.

To produce this comprehensive dataset, the researchers spent over 3 million CPU hours using the MIT SuperCloud, and generated 39 terabytes of data. (For comparison, it’s estimated that the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress would amount to about 10 terabytes of data.)

The engineers say that researchers can now use the dataset to train a particular AI model. For instance, an AI model could be trained on a part of the dataset to learn car configurations that have certain desirable aerodynamics. Within seconds, the model could then generate a new car design with optimized aerodynamics, based on what it has learned from the dataset’s thousands of physically accurate designs.

The researchers say the dataset could also be used for the inverse goal. For instance, after training an AI model on the dataset, designers could feed the model a specific car design and have it quickly estimate the design’s aerodynamics, which can then be used to compute the car’s potential fuel efficiency or electric range — all without carrying out expensive building and testing of a physical car.

“What this dataset allows you to do is train generative AI models to do things in seconds rather than hours,” Ahmed says. “These models can help lower fuel consumption for internal combustion vehicles and increase the range of electric cars — ultimately paving the way for more sustainable, environmentally friendly vehicles.”

“The dataset is very comprehensive and consists of a diverse set of modalities that are valuable to understand both styling and performance,” says Yanxia Zhang, a senior machine learning research scientist at Toyota Research Institute, who was not involved in the study.

This work was supported, in part, by the German Academic Exchange Service and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

© Credit: Courtesy of Mohamed Elrefaie

Complexity is the name of the game for any school transportation operation, and challenges are compounded for districts with student ridership in the thousands.

At West Ada School District in Idaho, Transportation Liaison RD Huntley supports the transportation of 12,500 students every school day. When asked to pinpoint the difference between the challenges faced by small and large districts, Huntley said: “The simple answer is volume. More students require greater coordination between management, drivers, administration, and technology.”

Serving a larger number of students well requires more resources, including people, vehicles, and technology. Tyler Technologies’ all-in-one student transportation solutions help large districts, including West Ada SD, to connect their transportation resources and processes.

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To learn more about Tyler Technologies’ Student Transportation software and tools that help streamline the complexities of large transportation operations, watch their Student Transportation for Large Districts webinar.

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To meet the challenges large school districts face — and empower the people who make those bus trips run smoothly — there are 5 key roles technology can play in supporting transportation operations.

1. Ensuring Every Student’s Needs Are Met, Every Day

Picture a typical day in a large transportation operation: routers constantly creating routes, dispatchers making real-time adjustments, and drivers navigating their assigned runs. With so many moving parts, how do you ensure every student’s unique needs are communicated and met seamlessly? In this dynamic environment, ensuring no detail is overlooked is crucial to delivering safe and reliable service for every child.

Huntley and the West Ada transportation department use Tyler Technologies’ Student Transportation software and Tyler Drive onboard tablets to help them stay on top of every detail.

“I cannot over-emphasize the value of the software and tablet integration,” Huntley said. “The software allows unlimited users, putting a wealth of information in the hands of district personnel and school administration, including bus stop information, vehicle tracking, and student ridership.”

The system acts as a safety net, providing real-time alerts and safeguards throughout the operational workflow.

For instance, consider the critical need for a wheelchair lift on a specific bus. If a new route is created without ensuring the assigned vehicle has the proper equipment, a student relying on that lift could face significant disruption in their day, potentially missing class or essential services. By integrating safeguards, like the instant alerts in Student Transportation routing software, these crucial details are flagged before they become issues.

A missed accommodation like this doesn’t just inconvenience a student—it can negatively impact their entire educational experience. By proactively addressing such needs, we can help ensure no student is left behind due to logistical oversight. The seamless flow of critical student information, from the router at the software level to Tyler Drive for the driver, is invaluable in making sure every need is met and every student receives the service they are entitled to.

These proactive safeguards are built to ensure that no matter who is making a change, every staff member is aware and responsive to the unique needs of the students. This comprehensive approach gives large operations the tools to help them provide the highest level of service and safety every day.

2. Streamlining Communication with Families and Staff

In large transportation operations, changes are inevitable — from driver switches to bus reroutes. Keeping everyone informed, especially parents and guardians, can be a challenge. Tyler Technologies makes communication seamless, eliminating the extra steps typically involved in updating families.

Huntley said, “The use of My Ride K-12 at West Ada School District has made communication with parents simple and effective. Parents can observe the expected arrival of their bus, be notified when their student gets on or off, and receive messages from dispatch for any changes that may occur.”

When working with a large staff and complex operation, having a solution that streamlines processes without adding extra work is crucial. Tyler Technologies’ platform not only simplifies internal communication, but also provides transparency and peace of mind for families, ensuring everyone is quickly and accurately informed. “Communicating with families through My Ride K-12 has dramatically reduced incoming phone communications and given parents stronger confidence in our transportation services,” Huntley said.

3. Informing Decisions and Achieving Compliance With Robust Reporting

For transportation directors managing large operations, it’s crucial to simultaneously evaluate daily performance, ensure compliance, and maximize funding opportunities. Tyler Technologies’ software provides robust and accurate reporting tools that cover all aspects of transportation management.

“The reporting capabilities of Tyler’s software are instrumental in evaluating on-time performance, RFID usage, and required information for state reports. If you need information, the system can provide it,” Huntley said. Directors can also evaluate bus stops, route efficiency, driver performance, and student safety, gaining detailed insights to make informed decisions quickly.

Additionally, the software offers specialized reports to simplify the process of meeting state annual reporting requirements and filing for Medicaid reimbursements. Tyler’s system ensures that all necessary data is accurately tracked, recorded, and formatted for easy submission, reducing administrative burden and improving the chances of reimbursement. With precise, real-time data at their fingertips, transportation leaders can confidently manage compliance, secure funding, and continually enhance their operations.

4. Integrating Alternative Transportation Solutions

Often, transporting more students also means offering more transportation options. Large districts might transport students to special programs and magnet schools, coordinate their routes with public transportation, and serve more students with special needs or those who are protected under the McKinney-Vento Act. To provide these options and serve all their students’ needs, large districts often work with transportation contractors or third-party vendors for services including alternative transportation, RFID cards, and dispatch.

For example, districts serving a large number of students with special needs or Individualized Education Program (IEPs) might leverage a ride-share style alternative transportation vendor to provide a safe and comfortable experience for students that struggle in a typical school bus environment. But it’s important for the transportation department to keep track of students using those alternative transportation methods just as they do for students riding their own buses. Data integration between a district’s student transportation software and other transportation technology partners is critical to ensuring student safety, clear communication, and operational efficiency.

Tyler connects these solutions through Onboard Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), a one-stop data exchange that uses Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to bridge the silos of information between transportation technology providers to empower transportation leaders with more customization and flexibility to support their students. With a growing network of integrators, Onboard iPaaS securely joins transportation applications together to maximize the value of the data already being generated by the tools large districts use every day.

5. Supporting Transportation Staff

In 2021, West Ada School District saw a sharp decline in student ridership — dropping from 13,000 to 8,500. Contributing factors ranged from the impact of COVID-19 and driver shortages to inefficient routing and low parent confidence.

“The district’s decision to bring in Tyler’s Student Transportation software, Tyler Drive tablets, RFID readers, and student cards, along with returning customer service and routing to the district, has resulted in an upward trend with ridership,” said Huntley.

By providing their transportation staff with powerful and connected tools, West Ada SD rebuilt their operation. At 12,500 today, ridership has nearly returned to pre-pandemic numbers.

“The difference is the efficiency of the routes, driver confidence, and parents being supplied critical information to satisfy their previous concerns. This all could not be possible without our Tyler Student Transportation software,” said Huntley.

The driver shortage has impacted districts of all sizes, but every driver counts even more so when there are more students to transport. With chronic absenteeism on the rise, increasing ridership is not just a logistical challenge but a critical solution to getting students back to school consistently.

Reliable transportation can play a pivotal role in reducing absenteeism, ensuring students have access to the education they need. As we work to optimize routes and address the shortage, we must also focus on maximizing ridership, making every bus and every driver even more essential to the success of the entire system.

Tyler Drive tablets can help districts recruit and retain drivers by helping them feel supported. For example, drivers at West Ada SD feel confident taking on any route when their bus is equipped with Tyler Drive.

“The tablets with real-time navigation have revolutionized the insecurities usually affiliated with driving in unknown areas and the distraction of paper route sheets,” said Huntley. For new drivers, substitutes, and even seasoned drivers on an unfamiliar route, Tyler Drive empowers driver confidence and supports more efficient routing.

Bus drivers at West Ada SD are also supported with Tyler’s advanced solutions, which are designed to meet the complex needs of large districts. For example, the district uses Advanced Activity Trips to plan, execute, and invoice a trip from start to finish. And the user interface is easy for their drivers to pick up.

“Since it mirrors the routing software, drivers do not need to learn a separate system to successfully operate a trip,” said Huntley. These solutions help set drivers up for success, giving them tools to complete their routes safely and efficiently.

Tyler’s Suite of Integrated Student Transportation Tools

The data that supports school transportation operations is complex, and connecting all the technology districts use can be cumbersome. To help transportation departments put the pieces together, Tyler Technologies’ Student Transportation solutions offer a one-stop shop for everything from routing, fleet maintenance, and activity trips to parent communication, GPS, and telematics.

And when your students require more specific or custom solutions to meet their needs, Tyler is committed to supporting integrations with your other transportation technology vendors through the Onboard iPaaS network.

To learn more about how Tyler’s integrated software and seamless connections can support your large transportation operations, register for their upcoming webinar.

The post 5 Ways Large Districts Can Improve Transportation Operations with Technology appeared first on School Transportation News.

David Poag has over 15 years of transportation experience in both pupil transportation and mass transportation. He started as a bus driver for Clemson Area Transit while he was attending college at Clemson University in 2008. He was a multiple time ROADEO driving champion which sparked his interest in the field.

In 2011, he transitioned into the pupil transportation space, serving as the operations and routing coordinator for Anderson School District Five in South Carolina. He served in that role for the next two years before moving to Greenville County Schools to serve as the routing and scheduling coordinator. Greenville is reportedly the largest district in South Carolina with nearly 400 bus routes. During this time, he became a certified director of transportation.

Poag moved back to Anderson in 2021 to become the assistant director of transportation. However, in May 2024 he became the director of transportation for Spartanburg School District 6. Poag and his wife Jennifer, reside in Anderson with their three children ages 5, 7, and 9.

Each year, School Transportation News chooses 10 Rising Stars based on nominations submitted by school districts and companies around the industry. These individuals have shown exemplary commitment and dedication in the student transportation industry and continue to demonstrate innovation in their roles. This year’s Rising Stars are featured in the November magazine issue.

“No two days in transportation are ever alike,” he said of his day-to-day operations. “The hustle and bustle of daily school bus operations is an environment I love. Every day we are challenged with new opportunities and face situations where we are tested in a multitude of ways.”

He noted that being a part of the transportation department that delivers the nation’s precious cargo daily is his favorite part of his job.

“I learn so much from our staff and it’s such a joy to work with folks from many different backgrounds,” he said, adding that Spartanburg drivers consist of career bus drivers/monitors, airline pilots, air traffic controllers, graphic designers, artists, developers, pastors, first responders, coaches, teachers, retired military, moms, dads, grandparents and more. “Those who drive or serve on a school bus bring with them a unique blend of life experiences and I thoroughly enjoy hearing and learning from them.”

Data Driven

Teena Mitchell, the special needs coordinator at Greenville County Schools, said she had the pleasure of meeting Poag when he became the routing coordinator at Greenville. She said in her nomination of Poag, that while there he initiated several programs and improved some processes.

“He is an expert on using data to improve processes, from providing data to change bell times, to using data to refresh our driver training program,” she wrote. “He was instrumental in updating our technology in transportation; from expanding our digital footprint to live feed in buses to software and radios.”

Poag added that the bell time change resulted in significant improvements with on-time performance for students at the middle and high school level. Mitchell added that he’s very creative in his training ideas, from using video to train drivers and aides to getting the Clemson Tiger Mascot to work with the district on the school bus demonstrating for elementary students how to safely load, unload and safely ride a bus.

While at Anderson district, Poag said he championed a project that increased the district’s licensing rate of driver candidates to 111 percent. “The same project reduced the amount of time it took to license a candidate by 53 percent,” he said. “These results were a direct impact of the decision to streamline our licensing process and hire candidates as full-time employees during their training.”

Mitchell added that the creative hiring campaign at Anderson consisted of using QR codes, billboards, and even wrapped a car to resemble a school bus. “The hiring data showed his ideas were effective,” she said.

She added that Poag is also a National Association of Pupil Transportation instructor for Professional Development Series (PDS) classes as well as a presenter for professional development at conferences. He currently serves on the PDS Committee with NAPT.

Going Forward

One goal for Spartanburg’s transportation department is to implement new school bus routes to ensure the on-time delivery of their 4,000 students. Additionally, the district will be putting nine new buses on the road this school year, with a district-wide service area for Child Development Centers.

An additional goal is opening a new parking depot, which will house 30 to 40 buses. “In the next five years, I see Spartanburg sustaining a full slate of dedicated transportation professionals and providing exceptional service in order to make a difference [to] one student at a time,” Poag added.

Outside of work, Poag enjoys riding the golf cart with his family and going to country singer Dolly Parton’s Dollywood in Pigeon Ford, Tennessee.

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The post South Carolina Transportation Director Produces Data Driven Results appeared first on School Transportation News.

The New York Times referred to the major IT outage in July involving Microsoft and CrowdStrike as the “glitch felt around the world.” In today’s digital age amid an increased presence of artificial intelligence tools, it’s no surprise that keeping sensitive data safe is a rising concern for the student transportation industry.

During his STN EXPO West keynote presentation in July, Keith Krueger, the chief executive officer for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), discussed the results of an annual survey of school IT leaders that indicated a shift in the top five technology priorities. The number one challenge for the past three years was cybersecurity. Data Privacy & Security, which had been sitting at No. 5 in 2022, moved up to No. 2. Network Infrastructure was third followed by the up-and-coming challenges of Determining AI Strategy and IT Crisis Preparedness.

Transportation departments are handling large amounts of data, including but not limited to onboard video camera footage, student ridership verification, telematics, and transportation employee information.

With these large amounts of data, it’s also important that school districts and vehicle contractors are equipped to effectively use and analyze the data, which could increasingly incorporate the application of AI.

Different facets of data and information security were discussed at the 2024 STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada, in July. During these sessions, speakers and vendors discussed how increased technology offerings also require due diligence in protecting the data that is run through and stored in a given solution.

In one of the STN EXPO West sessions, representatives from Geotab and Tyler Technologies led a discussion titled “What Do I Do with All of this Data? Using Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence tools in Student Transportation.” Craig Berndt, the segment manager for student transportation at Geotab, noted that he is expecting AI to be a rising trend.

“Machine learning is like teaching your dog to fetch, except your dog is a computer and fetching is recognizing patterns in data,” he explained. Some of the applications using AI to track data discussed in the sessions included risk management, predictive maintenance, driver training, tracking student attendance, and continuous learning that can assist in effective routing planning.

Berndt noted that historically there has been much conjecture surrounding AI, and a lot of that is hyperbolic. Geotab displayed its new AI assistant software Geotab Ace at the STN EXPO West Trade Show. Berndt added that Geotab protects transportation data by keeping it on a private, secure server. He explained it’s important to know how your data tools work and exactly where the data is landing.

“No one here would put your student data into ChatGPT. Our goal with generative AI is to get away from the staff having to analyze reporting. Would you like to be told what trends are from a reliable source or have to go through the data yourself?” he noted.

Berndt said that it’s important to stay on top of trends in AI, data security and analysis, commenting that “Artificial intelligence isn’t going to take away your job. People who know how to use artificial intelligence are going to take your job.”

Protecting sensitive student data was the topic of a panel discussion moderated by Rick Hays, deputy chief information officer at the Nevada Department of Transportation. Hays holds a doctorate in cybersecurity, served in the U.S. Air Force, and worked for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, an arm of Homeland Security. He has extensively worked on military and government levels to further cybersecurity safety practices.

Panelist Jennifer Vobis, who has since retired as executive director of transportation for Clark County School District in Nevada, spoke about a 2020 security breach that affected 40,000 district employees. It wasn’t until three years later that the district discovered information had been sold on the dark web. Vobis said that while her department assumed IT had the data security covered, it’s important to fully understand how those imperfect safeguards affect transportation operations.

Hays noted that many ransomware attacks begin with an email, an easy-to-overlook threat. His advice was to take a moment to analyze the message and sender, and “think before you click.”

“Balance the drive to get tasks done with making sure we know what it is we’re doing,” added panelist Lam Nguyen-Bull, a consultant at Edulog and an attorney, explaining that it’s everyday behavior that creates the most risk.

She continued that understanding and managing data flow and security starts with understanding that “data is just information,” whether physical or digital. Just as Berndt noted, Hays also emphasized the importance of knowing exactly where data is at all times. When it’s being used, when it’s being stored and when it’s in transit. Encryption must be present at all these levels, he explained.

Nguyen-Bull continued that data in storage is the easiest stage to protect it. When data is in transit across the web, it is generally protected by a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). When it’s being used it is protected by a firewall in a closed environment.

“What makes it vulnerable is when it’s between stages,” she said. “When it’s not being managed by a system.”

Nguyen-Bull used the example of a parent portal app, which she referred to as “a perfectly safe product if you use it right.” Ensuring that only the relevant parties can view data or a particular school bus location, or that a tablet onboard the bus is locked is the responsibility of the owners of the data. “Know what your responsibilities
are regarding the data you handle, you need to know the policies,” said Hays.

The human element of safely managing and effectively protecting data is a team effort, said Vobis, but it may be a teaching moment if all the staff is not up to date on technological education and cybersecurity training. Even though some of these practices may be considered common sense, the panel stressed the importance of covering all your bases and making sure each member of the team understands the implications of data breaches.

When things go wrong, and Nguyen-Bull noted that they will, it’s crucial to have an action plan in place to not only get the issue under control but to understand what happened and how it can be prevented in the future.

During a security audit situation, like one a “white hat” firm performed on Edulog last year, “We don’t usually like to answer questions, but understand we’re not being attacked. [Auditors] are just trying to understand,” she explained. “Be collaborative, learn from other people’s experiences. Despite best efforts to lock things down, there is always a high risk.”

We always think it’ll never happen to us,” said Vobis. Even after the situation at Clark County was resolved, she said there was an impact on how information was shared. Vobis cited an example of improper information sharing via Google Suites, where security privacy settings weren’t on. Nguyen-Bull referenced receiving an email with an attached unencrypted spreadsheet containing detailed data on student riders.

“Practice doesn’t make perfect, but practice does make it better,” said Nguyen-Bull, recommending that districts run tabletop exercises to prepare for when the “unthinkable does happen.”

All the panelists advised that student transporters take time to find out their organization’s cyber policies and security protocols.

Hays spoke to the widespread variety and type of ransomware and cyberattacks, noting that they can happen to very small and extremely large organizations, alike. He advised that transportation departments should have software in place to scan incoming files for possible attacks and that transportation should coordinate with the district to ensure security protocols for transferring or receiving data is being upheld throughout all operations.

Nguyen-Bull noted that even though it may seem like data is spread out between multiple people or databases, it can be easy for that information to get centralized somewhere within the district. She continued that predictive computation could use any amount or type of data to create complete pictures.

“Data is permanent, in all forms,” said Hays. “It can come back to bite you, no matter what stage it’s in.”

Both he and Nguyen-Bull advised being cautious with “new and improved AI” technology that is being created to meet the demand of ever-increasing data. Hays referenced the addage “Trust but verify,” which he said is applicable to all of us, in our personal and professional lives.

In a continually evolving digital landscape, Nguyen-Bull said that while she does work for a software company, she makes sure to prioritize people with face-to-face and voice interactions.

“Don’t reduce everything to digital.”

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the November 2024 issue of School Transportation News.

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